I'm interrupting this dormant dog-blog to write about my entry into the world of children's literature - there will still be the occasional mention of my erstwhile doggie companion who is still a pup in spirit, if not in size.

2 Jun 2013

Maurice Saxby mentorship - Day 2

It was my
first official day of the Maurice Saxby mentorship today and I met my mentor
Hazel Edwards in her eastern suburbs home.

Children's author Hazel Edwards

Hazel in
person proved much like her public persona – a human dynamo. She greeted me
warmly, complimenting me on my punctuality and ushered me into a sunlit sitting
room. Before I’d even sat down, she warned me that her comments would be blunt
– she wanted me to get the most from her critiquing.

I was surprised that my story formerly known
as The Floordrobe Phantom (now simply Floordrobe on her advice)
was her favourite of my three picture book offerings. She loved the floordrobe
concept – something she said every kid and parent could relate to. She then
went through the manuscript line by line. She liked my use of threes –
floordrobing is like bungy jumping, surfing or sky-diving. But she had concerns
about the names I’d used for the children – a no-name gender neutral main
character has broader appeal, she said. And she pointed out passages that
needed dramatization.

Hazel also
went briefly through my other picture book manuscripts (I submitted three in my
mentorship application) recommending one as worthy of development into a longer
work and the other as having series potential. I must admit the idea of a
series about a character called Haggis McStink is quite appealing!

We finished
the session with Hazel talking about the need for self-promotion. I was already
aware of the need to get cracking on these aspects and felt too ashamed to
admit that in a fit of despair last year, I had put my writing ambitions aside
and taken up a proper job. Of course, the offer of publication for Ferret on
the Loose arrived about two months later.

Now I feel
like all these opportunities are opening up and I’m seriously lacking the time
to take full advantage of them.

So, on my
to-do list (with Hazel’s recommendations):

-* Create an
author website/blog (which is probably NOT this dog blog)

Helen
Chamberlin – publisher at Windy Hollow who coordinated the mentorship program –
met us ‘mintees' – the others were Neridah McMullen, Nadine Cranenburgh and
Laura Wilson – next at Books Illustrated in Middle Park.

I remembered this wonderful book shop
from its former home at GasWorks in Albert Park but it is now located in a
non-descript terrace house on Beaconsfield Parade. Hence I drove past it the
first time, panicking because I was only just on time and didn’t have time to
not find it. On my second drive around the block, the outside name plate caught
my eye and I managed to park almost directly outside.

The two Anns
– illustrator extraordinaire Ann James and former teacher-librarian Ann Haddon
– are in possession of a treasure trove of children’s books. It was like
stepping into a Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory of children’s books –
beautifully displayed picture books, rows and rows of the latest chapter books
and gorgeous original illustrations adorning the walls. If money was no object
I could’ve gone crazy!

After our
guided tour, we sat in a cozy dining room, with the Ann’s two dogs keeping us
company in their baskets by the gas fire. As we chatted I became aware that Ann
James was the Ann James (so much for doing my research!) and was a
little over-awed.

The talented Ann James

Ann has illustrated a lot of Margaret Wild’s books – one of
my favourite picture book writers – and their joint The Midnight Gang
was one of mine and my daughters’ favourite bedtime stories.

It was
fascinating talking to Ann about how she approaches a text and what she likes
and doesn’t like from authors. For instance, she was saying how much she
enjoyed receiving Gillian Rubenstein’s Dog in, Cat Out manuscript.

For
those unfamiliar with the book, it’s aimed at babies and toddlers and reflects
the different times of day in a typical young child’s life by when the dog is
in and the cat is out. There are very few words in this picture book but Ann
said she adored the challenge and the opportunity for her imagination to run
wild. She said she studied the text to such an extent that she’d be like “hmm,
there’s a full stop there, what does that mean?”

She also
spoke about the pacing of picture books and showed

us the original paintings
from one of her most recent books Chester and Gill. She explained about
an error in the book to do with pacing – ie, the words preceded what happened
in the pictures.

All in all it was a very enjoyable afternoon and,
in spite of our comparative artistic poverty, none of us were able to leave
without buying a book or two.